AllCity Wireless, which provides solutions for enterprise-class wireless broadband and Wi-Fi deployments, introduced ÜberWi, a cloud-based solution that allows businesses to manage and monetize their own Wi-Fi networks.
According to AllCity Wireless CEO and President Phil McQuade, network owners can use ÜberWi to transform their Wi-Fi network from an expense into a new channel for customer engagement that drives new revenue streams.
Finding ways to monetize free network connectivity is one of the main challenges in the Wi-Fi industry. A lot of business owners deploy Wi-Fi to keep their customers happy, but they're not getting anything in return--other than satisfied customers. AllCity says it will address that challenge by providing business owners with a cloud-based Wi-Fi management service for monetization and management.
By connecting an ÜberWi gateway to an Internet connection and existing access points, businesses can centrally manage one or thousands of Wi-Fi networks through the cloud-based management interface.
"The difference for us is we don't necessarily care what kind of access points or brand of access point somebody is using," McQuade told FierceWirelessTech. "We don't care if they have multiple locations with different types of equipment here and there."
Businesses also can use it to create customizable user experiences and insert promotions and offers directly targeting their customers. That way, the business can generate additional revenue through advertising and affiliate marketing programs with complementary businesses and service providers, according to AllCity.
It is particularly well suited for retail deployments, such as malls, as well as smaller sports venues, marinas and auto dealerships. It's also getting some traction from some of the smaller cable operators that are looking for ways to offer different types of Wi-Fi, McQuade said.
ÜberWi will be available for deployments starting in the second half of 2015 either through an authorized reseller, value added resller or integrator.
For more:
- see the press release
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